The Tennessee Central Railway, The Nashville Route

The Tennessee Central Railway was a classic fallen flag system whose
history could perhaps be most associated with a company like the New
York, Ontario & Western; its circuitous and hilly route could never
really compete against its larger neighbors which eventually forced into
liquidation in the late 1960s. The TC's history dated to the late 19th
century as the Nashville & Knoxville Railroad and the early
difficulties in just getting this route completed was a precursor of
things to come. The TC became a favorite amongst
railfans when it began to acquire American Locomotive Company (Alco)
diesel road-switchers in the 1950s. It eventually came to own an entire
fleet of Alcos, save for a few Baldwins, which remained on the
company's roster until it finally went under. Today, what is left of
the TC remains in use between Norfolk Southern and shortlines Nashville
& Eastern and Nashville & Western while other sections have been
turned into rail/trails.

The history of the TC begins with the chartering of the Nashville & Knoxville Railroad in 1884 by Alexander
Crawford to link both cities and move predominantly coal between those
points. Construction on the line began in 1888 and by 1894 the N&K
had opened 76 miles between Lebanon (near Nashville) and Monterey (about
the midway point) before Crawford's untimely death. The new railroad
quickly ran into funding issues
and with the primary leadership gone the construction stalled.
Unfortunately, this was just a foreboding of the problems later
experienced by the TC. With the N&K stuck where it was the line was
purchased by Jere Baxter in August, 1893 as he had just chartered the
Tennessee Central Railroad with the same hopes as Crawford, to connect
Knoxville with Nashville.

Following a reorganization as the Tennessee Central Railway in 1897 the new operation had completed an eastward extension from Monterey to Emory Gap in 1900, 54 miles in all, leaving about 40 miles to reach Knoxville. The line, however, would extend no further east except to Harriman (about two miles away) and the TC had to settle for a connection with the Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific Railway (CNO&TP), a subsidiary of the Southern. Despite this, Baxter was able to see the eastern end of his system fan out quite prodigiously; through 1904 he added coal branches to Wilder, Isoline, and Fall Creek (all of these spurs were between 2 and 21 miles in length). Essentially, this completed the Eastern Division of the TC although at the same it had been expanding westward as well; also in 1904 it had reached Nashville, putting pressure on the Louisville & Nashville (although its hopes to serve the city's downtown area was cutoff by its larger competitor), and purchased the Nashville & Clarksville Railroad.

The takeover of the N&C saw the TC reaching all of the way
into southern Kentucky at Hopkinsville and a connection with the
Illinois Central. Once again, tragedy struck the company when Baxter
passed away in 1904, which also left it in poor shape financially due to
the aggressive expansion that had taken place during his watch. As a
result, in June, 1905 it was leased to its major interchange partners
(IC, L&N, and Southern) which operated portions of the railroad
until it returned to independence in 1908. This lasted for only a few
years as the TC remained financially weak and again entered receivership
in 1912. Here it remained until 1922 when a group of investors
purchased the property and kept the Tennessee Central Railway name.
Led by Hugh Wright Stanley, which already had experience in railroad
management, the company was brought back from the brink and actually
began to post profits for the first time in its history.

Stanley remained at the TC for 32 years and under his leadership the railroad also saw one final extension, a branch from Stone River (near Nashville) to Old Hickory along the Cumberland River, which eventually saw the line served by a DuPont chemical plant. He was able to lead the railroad through the depression years of the 1930s, which saw it remain profitable through the end of World War II. As with the original N&K, coal was always the TC's most important source of traffic and it increased its tonnage with the commodity during the 1950s when the Tennessee Valley Authority opened its Kingston Steam Plant near Harriman in February, 1954. Unfortunately, by late that decade it began losing its main source of traffic when the TVA moved its coal contracts to other mines not served by the TC.

Additionally, mines the railroad had served for several years were beginning to play out and, sadly, by 1960 it was again posting deficits, never again to show a profit. As the red ink deepened it tried to diversify traffic by moving other freight, such as trailer-on-flat-car movements (TOFC) and in its desperation even contemplated running passenger trains once more (which it ultimately decided against). While profitable, TOFC accounted for barely $50,000 in annual income and by 1967 its deficits had mounted to $10 million, including a $4.5 million loan owed to the government it had taken out in 1950. The railroad filed for bankruptcy on January 14, 1968 and after an attempt to save the company by the state of Tennessee (which was vetoed by Governor Buford Ellington) the railroad was liquidated as of September 1, 1968. Sections of the line were acquired by neighbors IC, Southern, and L&N.

Diesel Locomotive Roster

Builder

Model Type

Road Number

Notes

Quantity

Alco

HH660

50

Acquired new, 1939 and scrapped in 1963.

1

Alco

S1

51

Acquired new, 1941, sold to Cadiz Railroad in 1968. Stored.

1

Baldwin

DRS-4-4-1000

75-77

Acquired new, 1946-48 and scrapped in 1966 after being sold.

3

Alco

RS3

248-260

Most acquired new between 1950 and 1956; however, 248-250 were ex-Reading. All sold and later scrapped.

13

Alco

RS36

301-305

Acquired new between 1962-63. All sold and later scrapped.

5

Alco

C420

400-401

Acquired new in 1966; 400 now operates on the Apache Railway while 401 was sold and later scrapped in 1986.

2

Alco

FB-1

801-B

Acquired new in 1949. Trade-in to Alco for RS36s in 1963.

1

Alco

FA-1

802-805

Acquired new in 1949. Trade-in to Alco for RS36s in 1962-63.

4

(Thanks to Gary W. Dolzall's "The Tennessee Central Story, Part 1" from the September, 1987 issue of Trains as a primary reference for this article.)

During the steam era the railroad used some
quite powerful locomotives to lug heavy coal trains over its main line
such as 4-8-2 Mountains, 2-8-2 Mikados, and even 2-6-6-2 Class Z1a
Mallets purchased secondhand from the Norfolk & Western. It was the
diesel era, however, that really drew in railfans with a roster of Alco
models ranging from RS3s and
RS36s to FAs and C420s; there were even three Baldwin DRS-4-4-1000s in
use at one time (these were later sold). Aside from the TC's remaining
lines still in use the Tennessee Central Railway Museum is dedicated to
its memory, situated in its former master mechanic's shop that also
doubled as its headquarters during the last years of service.

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